A Beautiful Mind
by PMB
Summary: It's a normal day until CSI Nick Stokes gets sent to a crime scene that turns his whole world upside down. I don't want to give away too much, but please read! And review, it makes my day!  :
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hello everyone! This is my first CSI fic and I'm planning on it only being a few chapters long. I'd also like to point out that I am in no way a doctor of any kind, so this is not medically accurate at all. Hope you like it!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

Chapter 1

It was a relatively cool night in Las Vegas, and CSI Nick Stokes was just arriving at work. He was expecting to walk in, go to his locker, maybe take off his jacket, have a cup of coffee, but no.

His new supervisor D.B. Russell came parading after him the second he got in the door. "Nick! I'm glad you're here, I've got a case for you."

"Fantastic." Nick said, his voice dripping with sarcasm, "Okay, gimmee the rundown."

"Well all I know is that a man was beaten to death in an alley. I wasn't given very many details. Super Dave will meet you there." D.B. told his colleague.

"No Brass?" Nick asked the older man.

"No, he's at another scene. There should be another officer there though I'm sure."

"Alright, see ya later." Russell gave Nick the location of the crime scene, and the two men parted ways.

Nick walked out the door that he had just entered through only minutes before and hopped in his car.

D.B. was right. When Nick pulled up to the scene Super Dave was also just arriving, and a police officer was waiting for the both of them.

The officer was a young man, probably in his mid 20's, and he did not look very happy to be there. He'd probably been called in at the last minute. "The body's over there." He said with as little enthusiasm that could possibly come out of a person.

Nick just nodded, and Super Dave followed him to where the man had pointed, about midway through a deep, dark alley.

They approached the body, and lying there was a man in his mid 30's, face completely bashed in and covered in blood.

"That's gotta hurt." Super Dave said with a grimace on his face.

"Yeah, I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that that's probably the cause of death." Nick commented.

"Well I'd say I have to agree with you. It doesn't look like he has any other injuries accept for what appears to be several blows to the head and face."

"Alright, I'm gonna check out the rest of the scene." And with that, Nick began surveying the alley, starting with the front. He worked his way all the way back to where the body was and had found basically nothing.

"Find anything?" Super Dave asked as he was examining the body.

"Nope. But there's still a good bit of places to look." Nick said as he continued on into the alley.

He was getting closer towards the end of it where there was a back entranceway that basically just led to more alleys. And that was when he heard something.

It was very subtle; he's surprised he heard it at all. But it was there. It sounded to him like a gasp, a very quiet gasp. Like a gasp you would make if you had just been caught doing something you shouldn't be. Would the killer really still be here? And if so, why?

Nick saw a very small movement in the corner of his eye. He looked and there was a large blue tarp, the kind he had to put on his roof when there was a leak in it.

He got his gun out and slowly pulled the tarp away. But he wasn't at all prepared for what was coming.

The man underneath launched at Nick so fast that he didn't even have time to react. He was wielding a metal baseball bat, and he struck Nick in the side of the head with it. Hard.

Nick dropped his gun and fell to the ground, unconscious. The man took advantage of this and drug Nick's body into the alleyway immediately to the left.

Meanwhile, the officer on duty was leaning against his patrol car, half asleep, and David was quietly humming to himself, completely oblivious to what was going on.

The man drug Nick rather far into the next alley, but then dropped him when he began to stir. The man panicked, grabbed his bat and just started hitting Nick in the head and face over and over and over again. And this time, Nick didn't go under quite so easy.

He was completely conscious for a good number of the blows he was taking, and somehow he managed to think humorously to himself "_Hey, I wonder if this is our killer."_

But then he came to reality and realized that there was nothing funny about this situation.

Back by the body, Super Dave called out, "Alright Nick, I'm all finished up here." He looked up, and then realized that there was no one there. "Nick?"

No reply. He then began to panic. He was around when Nick had been kidnapped and buried alive, and he had partially blamed himself for this because he had arrived late to the scene.

He couldn't let anything happen to his friend again. So David ran, no, sprinted down the alley until he reached the officer that was supposed to be 'watching' them. He sure was doing a great job.

"Whoa, what's going on?" The officer asked as David nearly ran into him he was running so fast.

"Nick is gone!" He cried out in between breaths.

"Who is-"

David cut him off, "He's the CSI! You were standing here daydreaming when you were supposed to be watching him, and now he's gone!"

"Look, I'm sorry-"

David cut him off, yet again, "I don't care! Just call it in! I want every officer on duty tonight to be here, and to find Nick!" David didn't know that he could yell at someone like this. But it needed to be done, and he didn't regret his forcefulness one bit.

Little did he know that his friend was only one alleyway over, slowly being beaten to death.

But when the killer heard David screaming, he ran back into the first alley, grabbed the tarp, threw it over Nick, who was now unconscious, took his bat, and got out of there as fast as he could.

And all that Nick could do was lay there and try not to let death consume him.

**I hope you liked it! And please review, it makes my life! Bye! (:**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Here's Chapter 2! Please review! (Yes, that did rhyme on purpose) (:**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

Chapter 2

"What do you mean he's gone?" Detective D.B. Russell nearly screamed into the phone.

"He just disappeared, I'm really sorry." The officer stammered out.

"Well you should be sorry, because you just lost your job. Your only job was to watch him." Russell hung up the phone furiously, not even giving the man on the other line a chance to respond.

D.B. hadn't been working for the LVPD for very long, but that didn't mean that he didn't care about the people he worked with.

And he was certainly not looking forward to telling the people that Nick had worked with for well over ten years that the man they all knew and loved was missing.

But he had to, because he needed their help. Russell was prepared to get everyone to go out and help look for, and hopefully find, Nick.

So he called an emergency meeting, and within minutes his whole team was huddled around the table in the break room. "There's no easy way to tell you all this, so I'm just gonna spit it out. Nick is missing. He was at a crime scene with just David and another officer, who claims that he just 'disappeared'. But people don't just disappear so I need you all to come with me to process the crime scene and help look for him." D.B. rattled off, his voice remaining even. He was worried about how his team would react, but nothing prepared him for how Catherine responded.

"Really Nicky? Why is it always you? I'm really getting sick of having to find you, living on just the mere hope that you're alive! I mean seriously, you're eventually going to run out of luck and I don't really want to be around when it happens!" Catherine shouted to no one in particular. She knew that Nick couldn't hear her, but she was just so frustrated. How did he always get himself into these situations?

"Catherine, I need you to calm down. We're going to find him, but we just have to work together. We're gonna get him back." D.B. responded, his voice a little shakier now.

"Yeah, maybe. But at what cost? Because I certainly don't think he can make it, mentally, through something else like this again!" Catherine spat back, her eyes beginning to well up with tears.

"What do you mean something like this again?" D.B. asked, genuinely curious.

Seeing that Catherine was now just struggling to fight back tears, Greg spoke up, "About seven or so years ago, Nick was kidnapped and buried alive, almost eaten alive by fire ants. And we found him just before he was about to blow his brains out. He was messed up for a really long time. And just a few years before that, he had a stalker that was living in his attic and shoved him out of a window. And only a couple of years ago he was shot, then blown up. He really just doesn't have the best of luck, and Catherine's right, he is eventually going to run out of what little 'luck' he does have."

"And why didn't I know about any of this? I'm sure it affects his work performance during certain cases, I really should have known." D.B. said, but not too harshly.

"He didn't want anyone to know. He's embarrassed, ashamed of all the things that have gone wrong in his life. And he doesn't let his past affect his work, at least not recently anyways." Greg told the older man.

"Alright, well we need to get out to the crime scene and start finding some answers, because I am not going to let Nick die on my watch." D.B. said, and with that, everyone got up and headed to their cars.

All of them sped as fast as they could to get to the crime scene. Brass was waiting for them when they arrived. "I'm really getting sick of all this." That was all that Brass said when Catherine approached him.

"Me too, Brass. Me too." She replied, and then headed into the alley that the victim was found in to see where Nick might have been taken from.

Greg joined her, while Sara began to question David and the officer on scene.

So D.B. decided to start looking in areas around the scene for any clues. He started with the alleyway to the right of the one that the body was found in. No luck.

So he then chose the alleyway to the left of the body-containing alley. He rummaged through all of the garbage and old food that littered the ground, and still could not find anything useful. He was about to give up hope, when he noticed a large blue tarp toward the end of the deep, dark alley.

At first he didn't think much of it, but why would one be here? So he walked closer to it, counted to three in his head, and proceeded to rip the tarp away from the ground to see if anything lie beneath it.

And something sure did.

In all of his career, he had never laid eyes upon a scene this disturbing. Sure he had seen things much more gruesome and brutal, but he had never seen one of his coworkers, one of his own, in such a state as this.

The entire right side of Nick's head and face were soaked with blood. His face had swollen up similarly to your average balloon, and basically all of the skin covering his face had taken on a deep purple color.

All D.B. could do was check for a pulse. He brought his fingers up the man's neck, and felt a throbbing, and he had never been so happy in his life. It was a very weak pulse, but a pulse nonetheless.

As soon as Russell pulled his hand away, Nick twitched a little bit. "Nick? Nick can you hear me? Everything's going to be alright." D.B. told him, although he wasn't quite sure he believed it himself. Nick was in bad shape. But according to his coworkers, his friends, he could pull through just about anything.

Nick made a noise, it sounded like a cross between a whimper and a scream, and then he outstretched his hand, looking for something to grab. D.B. grasped his hand, and immediately cried out, "I need some help over here!"

Brass was the first to hear him, and he immediately began to sprint to where D.B.'s voice had come from. He saw the man crouching at the end of the alley, and began to sprint faster. He reached his destination, and glanced over Russell's shoulder. He barely even reacted. He just had this look of total shock and worry on his face, and then he lifted his walkie talkie to his mouth, "I need an ambulance here ASAP." And then he let the device hit the floor.

"He's alive right? Right?" Brass asked the man who was now beside him.

"Yes, he has a pulse but it's very weak. That ambulance better come fast." Nick squeezed D.B.'s hand a little harder at those words. Nick did not want to die. He had been through too much to not come out on the other side of this one.

It only took a few minutes for the sound of sirens to be heard, and by this time, Nick had drifted off into unconsciousness again. The paramedics put him on the stretcher and started rambling things off that sounded like they were in another language.

D.B. and Brass followed closely behind them, and found the rest of the team crowded around the ambulance when they walked up to it.

"Oh god Nicky." Catherine cried out when she saw her beloved friends condition.

"Catherine, you go with him. I'm sure he'd like to see you when he wakes up rather than me." D.B. told the woman who now had tears running down her face.

She just nodded, not being able to choke out any words. She touched Russell's shoulder as she hopped into the back of the ambulance, and he took this as a thank you.

The ambulance pulled away, leaving the rest of the team to just watch it drive off into the night. "Come on guys, this scene isn't going to process itself." D.B. said as nicely as he possibly could. He knew that these guys did not want to work right now, even he himself didn't. But it's what had to be done in order to find out who did this to Nick.

In the ambulance, Catherine was squeezing Nick's hand tighter than she thought possible, and she did not let go until they arrived at the hospital and she was told to wait in the waiting area while they took Nick to the back.

The time ticked by so slowly that she thought she would go insane, until a doctor came into the waiting room and simply said, "Nick Stokes?"

Catherine shot up out of her chair and raced over towards the man. "How is he?"

"Well, he's certainly not in ideal condition, but he is going to live." The Doctor said as he watched Catherine let out a huge sigh of relief. "But he is going to suffer some rather serious brain damage because of this. He took most of the blows to the right side of the head, so the entire left side of his body is going to be very weak. He'll walk with a limp for quite some time, but it should get better with physical therapy. He will also most likely have a speech impediment of some degree. But again, this can get better with therapy. His jaw is also broken, we've wired it shut for the time being. He's in pretty rough shape, but he seems like a strong guy, I think he'll pull through. Would you like to see him?"

Catherine just nodded vigorously. That was a lot of information to take in, and she wasn't even sure that she could handle it. This was going to completely destroy Nick's life, change his whole world. He'd already been through enough, why does he have to go through more?

The doctor led her to a private room toward the back of the hospital, and opened the door for her.

When she walked in, her breath was taken away. His face was even more swollen than before, and he looked so broken just lying in that bed.

She pulled up a chair and sat at his bedside, grasping his hand tightly. She didn't know if he could feel it, but if he could she just wanted him to know that someone was there.

The doctor had left, so it was just Nick and Catherine in the room. "Nicky? Can you hear me?"

No response.

"Don't you worry about a thing Nick. We're gonna get you through this. Together, that's what family's for, right?"

As if on cue, the rest of the team piled in through the door, their faces filled with looks of sorrow as their eyes fell upon their good friend Nick Stokes.

It was gonna be a bumpy ride.

**I really hope you liked it! And if you did, REVIEW! I'll love you! (: And again, I would really like to stress the fact that I am not a doctor, so most of this is probably horribly inaccurate. So sorry. Bye! (:**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: First of all I would like to thank the people who reviewed, you make me one happy girl! So thank you! Well, here's the third chapter, hope you like it!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

Chapter 3

6 months later…

"Are you sure that you're ready to come back to work Nicky? I really think that you should wait another week or two." Catherine said as she sat down at the breakfast table with her good friend.

"C-Catherine, it's b-been six months. I'm a-as ready as I'll e-ever be." Nick stuttered out as best as he could. When the doctor said that Nick would suffer from some speech problems, he hadn't been kidding. He could still easily think of things to say, but for some reason his mouth just had difficulty saying them.

"Okay, but only if you're sure. If anything happens I'm making you stay here for another month." Catherine threatened. She had been kind enough to let Nick stay with her after he got out of the hospital; he needed a lot of help doing a lot of things. But hopefully soon he would be able to go back to his own home and start living relatively normal again.

"N-nothing's gonna h-happen, I'll be f-fine." Nick said, although he didn't quite believe it. He had to admit that he was pretty nervous about going back to work. He wouldn't be able to do anything the way that he used to.

When Nick first woke up, he'd had barely any control over the left side of his body at all. Whenever he would try to life his left arm, it would just shake uncontrollably. And he couldn't walk at all without the use of a walker, and even that was difficult.

But over time, with loads of physical therapy, he could now manage to use his left arm to do some tasks, but it did still shake quite a bit. And now he could at least walk on his own, but he still limped pretty badly.

So going back to work was certainly not going to be an easy task. He knew that everyone was going to look at him differently, treat him differently. He's been through it all before after he'd been buried alive. Everyone was just always so worried about him, he couldn't stand it.

But at least he had been able to hide the pain from that incident. For this one, it was literally going to be impossible to not get sympathy looks from each and every one of his coworkers. Not only them, but everyone who laid eyes on him would most likely give him a strange look or mutter a comment. You can't hide a limp or a stutter. And he hated that more than he could even describe.

But no matter how much he was not looking forward to dealing with all of this, he needed to go back to work. He hadn't been anywhere except for physical therapy and checkups at the hospital in six months. He was ready to get back into the world and start living again.

"You r-ready to go?" He asked Catherine after he finished his bowl of cereal.

"Ready whenever you are." She said, and that look of worry still never left her face.

Nick threw his bowl in the sink and followed Catherine to her car. He hoisted himself into the passenger seat, and then they were off.

"Are you really sure you want to do this? You know that Russell isn't going to let you do anything, so you could be at home, resting." Catherine said.

"Catherine, I-I already t-told you, I'm f-fine! A-and I've b-been resting f-for the past s-six months, I t-think I have r-rested enough!" Nick said, losing his temper a little bit. Not only because Catherine wouldn't stop worrying, but also because he just had so much freaking trouble telling her.

Catherine could see he was upset, "Look, I'm sorry Nicky but I just can't help but worry. After all of the crap that you've been through, I just don't see how you could want to come back to work ever again."

"Well I-I just d-do." Nick told her. He would have said more, but it's just too hard for him to listen to himself sound like a complete idiot. He knew that he couldn't help it, but for some reason that didn't make him feel any less like a fool.

They rode the rest of the way in silence.

When they arrived, they walked in together, Catherine having to slow down quite a bit to wait for Nicky. She couldn't stand to see him like this, but if he really wanted to come back to work, she wouldn't argue anymore.

They walked together to the locker room, and Nick did receive a few looks as he walked in.

Greg was sitting on the bench in the locker room when he saw Nick, "NICK! Oh my gosh, it's so good to have you back buddy!" The younger man said cheerfully as he pulled Nick into a hug.

"I m-missed you t-too Greggo!" Nick said with a smile.

"Man, how come you didn't tell anyone that you were coming back today?" Greg asked.

"Well, I w-wasn't too sure that C-Catherine was going to l-let me. She likes to k-keep me locked in her d-dungeon so she c-can h-have me all to h-herself." Nick said playfully, earning a friendly slap on the shoulder from Cath.

"Well, it's great to see you man! I'll see you later?" Greg asked his friend.

"I'm s-sure you w-will!" Nick said. He was actually in a pretty good mood now knowing that he was so missed.

Greg just nodded with a big grin on his face and then headed out the door.

"Well he s-sure was h-happy to see m-me." Nick said to no one in particular.

"I'm sure everyone will be. It's been boring without you here Nicky, I must admit." Catherine said.

"W-well, I'm glad t-to k-know I was so m-missed." Nick said genuinely.

Just after he said that, D.B. Russell walked into the room. "Nick! I didn't know you were coming back today, it's good to see you!"

"G-good to s-see you t-too." Nick was eternally grateful to this man. If he hadn't have found him, Nick could have very well died where he lay.

"Would you come and meet me in my office in about ten minutes? I've got a few things I'd like to talk to you about." D.B. said, noticing that it made Nick seem a little uneasy.

"S-s-s-sure t-t-thing." Nick always stuttered more when he was nervous.

Russell smiled and then headed out of the room. "Alright Nicky, what's wrong?" Catherine questioned.

"W-w-what do y-you m-m-mean?" Nick asked, giving himself away even further.

"What are you so nervous about? I'm sure he just wants to talk to you. It's not like he can yell at you for any of this Nicky."

"He c-c-could make me go s-see a t-t-therapist, or t-tell me I can't come b-b-back to w-work, he could even f-f-f-fire me Cath! What am I g-g-gonna do i-if he f-f-fires me?"

"Nicky, calm down! He's not going to fire you, why would he?"

"W-why w-w-wouldn't he? I'm n-not gonna be a-able to d-d-do anything a-a-anymore!"

"Nick! You're going to get better! It will take some time and effort, but you are going to be able to work again! Just trust me, whatever he wants to see you for isn't going to be a bad thing!" Catherine said, trying to calm him as much as possible.

"A-alright, but if y-you're wrong then y-y-you're buying me l-lunch." Nick said, trying to lighten the mood after his outburst.

"Deal." She said, smiling.

And with that, Catherine went to go get started on her case for the day, leaving Nick alone in the locker room. He had about five more minutes to kill before he went to D.B.'s office, so he thought that he'd just sit there for the time being.

Sara came in, told him how much she had missed him and how much she was hoping him the best, and then left to go get some work done. By this time it was time for Nick to go to Russell's office.

So he got up from his bench and began to limp his way over there. Russell was sitting at his desk when Nick came in, "Have a seat." He told his colleague.

Nick did as he was told, and limped over to the chair in front of the desk. "How are you Nick, and tell the truth." D.B. said, his voice firm, yet not angry.

"I've d-d-definitely been b-better. The s-s-speech therapy a-and physical therapy h-h-have been helping a-a lot." Nick said, and he was telling the truth. Things had gotten much better over the past few months.

"Well I'm going to let you keep working, I'm sure you need the money to be paying all of those ridiculous medical bills. For now you can just sort of work in the lab, but I know that you are going to improve, and we're eventually going to get you back out in the field again. I've got faith in you Nick, and I know you're going to come out of this a stronger person."

"T-thank you s-so much D.B., y-y-you don't k-k-know how m-much that means t-t-to me." Nick said with a huge smile on his face.

"Well go on, get out of here! You've got some work to do mister!" Russell said, also smiling.

Nick nodded and limped out of the office, but he limped away as a happier, and more hopeful man.

**Well, that's the end I suppose. I couldn't really think of a good way to end it, but I hope you all enjoy it! Thanks so much for reading, and again, thanks to everyone who reviewed and such! Bye! (:**


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